CFP: Resistance to Finance

"Polygraph: An International Journal of Culture & Politics", an annual interdisciplinary publication affiliated with the Literature Programme and edited by humanities graduate students of Duke University, is planning an issue (no. 24) on "Resistance to Finance", to be published in 2012, and has released a call for papers. They particularly invite contributors with a background in political theology.

www.duke.edu/web/polygraph/cfp24.html

Description: "What does financial capitalism demand of us in thought and in action today? Financial capital is one of the fundamental structuring forces in our world. Evidence of this is ubiquitous: the severity and extent of the most recent global financial crisis, the collapse of whole national economies (as in Greece and Iceland), the steadily progressing securitization of pensions and savings, a growing volume of derivatives trading that already dwarfs 'real' global GDP. Yet many critical accounts of corporate globalization, free trade, neoliberalism, and so on all too rarely emphasize the fact that high finance constitutes the very condition of possibility of capitalism as we know it. Other available forms of economic critique, from world-systems theory to dependency theory to theories of Empire, often do grant high finance the central role that it in reality occupies, but rarely go beyond critique to directly address the question of resistance. Too often, critique remains mired in highlighting isolated acts and agents of malfeasance rather than producing totalizing, systemic claims with real leverage.

"We now know this state of affairs to be in need of immediate rectification. We also know that action is demanded, but its contours are not yet well defined. The clout of finance capital has received ample attention in Marxist economics, neo-classical economics, and other quarters – yet the accounts produced thus far of what is to be done have been less than satisfactory. What political responses on the part of on-the-ground social movements and both current and potential bodies of governance are necessary? Are some already underway but obscured from view? What alternative economic futures can we begin to construct out of the wreckage of the most recent crisis and the structural shifts that produced and accompany it? Is it necessary to break the global economy of its speculative bent and return it to its 'real' roots, or is this antithesis, stemming from Hilferding's classic critique of 'fictitious capital,' fundamentally ill-conceived? Should the focus of political action be shifted away from past struggles – against multinational corporations, free trade, and the powerful political allies of both – in the direction of the financial crux of the global economy? What would such a change in focus entail?

"Potential topics: Financial capitalism and Marxism (The continued efficacy or potential obsolescence of previous critical outlooks [world systems theory, Empire theory, etc.] in confronting global finance; The centrality of the question of global finance in any meaningful
critical engagement with globalization; Systemic global inequality, post-Fordism and crisis); Resistance (Forms of political subjectivity capable of comprehending and acting within [and against] high finance as it stands; What is the role of the state in confronting financial capital?; Real and hypothetical political movements and direct action; Strategies of flight and subtractive action, whether individual [e.g. walking away from mortgage contracts] or institutional [e.g. Argentina's post-crisis debt restructuring]; Alternative financial institutions and orders (Jacques Sapir's recent call for a 'new Bretton Woods' system [akin to Antonio Negri's call for a 'new New Deal']; Microfinance and financial decentralization; The global Tobin tax on of [sic] financial transactions and other forms of regulation; Neo-Luddism and the return to the 'real' economy; Radical political economy and the pursuit of anti-capitalist alternatives); Other (Historical perspectives on high finance, dealing with periodization, secular trends, particular crises and institutions, and exemplary modes of resistance; Mystification, abstraction and the 'new' digital/virtual economy; Epistemological barriers to adequate critique of the global financial system; Perception and belief as primary structural forces in the financial system; Artistic representations of the financial world as possible critical tools; Socio-political underpinnings of the financialization of the world)"

"Polygraph" welcomes work from a variety of disciplines, including political economy, critical geography, cultural anthropology, political theology, science studies, and systems theory. They also encourage the submission of a variety of formats and genres, i.e. field reports, surveys, interviews, photography, essays, etc.

Please e-mail complete manuscripts to the editor of this issue, Lucas Perkins (Duke University): lucas.perkins@duke.edu

Deadline: 31 January 2011

Book: Paul's New Moment: Continental Philosophy and the Future of Christian Theology

Just published: John Milbank, Slavoj Žižek, and Creston Davis, "Paul's New Moment: Continental Philosophy and the Future of Christian Theology" (Brazos Press, November 2010):

www.bakerpublishinggroup.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=ADFAD5A4E6444C54BA7481B53085B80B

Publisher's description: "Are there moments in Christian history when non-Christians in some ways understand Christianity better than Christians? The church fathers and mothers often did especially acute theology because they could remember well what it meant to inhabit non-Christian philosophies and religions. The Hindu Gandhi saw and acted on something in Christ's witness that many confessing Christians overlooked. Today some leading secular thinkers have turned to a surprising source: the apostle Paul. The rediscovery of Paul by atheistic or agnostic European philosophers is one of the most striking recent developments in philosophy – and certainly one of keen interest to the church. Bringing together Radical Orthodox theologian John Milbank, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, and Creston Davis, who has been a student of both, this book reflects on Paul's new moment in secular philosophy. In a debate format, Zizek brings Marxist and post-Marxist ideas into a discussion with Milbank about the influence of Paul. The book also includes a contribution from Catherine Pickstock."

Endorsement: "What is at stake is nothing less than our escape from the ubiquity of multitudinous fundamentalisms, bourgeois liberalism, and the late capitalism that has captured the West today. For those navigating theology and the political, this collection of essays is timely, riveting, and well worth our focus and attention." (David Fitch, Northern Seminary)

A year ago, Davis announced this book on his blog as being "on St. Paul, the Liturgy, and Political Theology".

John Milbank is Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics at the University of Nottingham.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Creston Davis is Assistant Professor of Religion at Rollins College.

Book: A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology, and Apocalypticism in New Testament Studies

Just published: Randall W. Reed, "A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology, and Apocalypticism in New Testament Studies"
(Pickwick Publications, April 2010):

http://wipfandstock.com/store/A_Clash_of_Ideologies_Marxism_Liberation_Theology_and_Apocalypticism_in_New_Testament_Studies/

Publisher's description: "Marxism is one of the revolutionary social-scientific theories that has come to have a prominent place in New Testament studies in the United States. It is often combined with liberation theology and applied to apocalyptic texts. This book argues that the basic presuppositions of these three ideological systems are ultimately at odds with one another. The study then traces the kinds of moves scholars in New Testament studies have made to overcome this problem."

Endorsements: "Reed has uncovered the unexamined assumption of biblical scholarship, namely that the Bible holds the answers to the social issues confronting us in the twenty-first century. He does this by exposing the faulty logics of several major hermeneutical traditions of New Testament scholarship that he calls 'ideologies.' This also serves as a brilliant announcement of an historic change in the reasons for the long-standing investment in biblical studies. The Bible can no longer serve as the theological foundation for ideological argumentation. It has now to be seen as the Christian myth with its own problematic social ideology." (Burton Mack, Claremont Graduate University)

"By highlighting the fundamental and irresolvable incompatibility between Marxist materialism and its distinctive view of religion, and any emancipatory projects rooted in religion – whether ancient apocalypticism or modern liberation theology – Reed's important, timely, and persuasive book establishes the continued and even enhanced salience of Marxist insights into and critiques of biblical texts. An outstanding indictment of the too-common tendency in our field to advocate radical social transformation while maintaining the transcendent authority of privileged biblical texts." (William Arnal, University of Regina)

Randall W. Reed is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University.